What are your goals?

Today was 3 miles.  I ran and walked (about 1/2 mi).  Scaled my goals back to my first goal--to be allowed to finish this race.  Remembered that a few months ago I was planning to waddle to the finish.  When that dream died, dreamed that I could do 10 min miles.  Definitely a dream.  My first goal was the most sensible and remains so at this point.  Was wondering how your goals have been changed by real life, and whether AT, a broken toe, and a miscarriage have actually made it so we will finish at about the same time?

On the road again...

Ran 8 miles the Saturday we drove to Huntsville.  Felt great.  Felt like two more would have been just fine.  Then spent two weeks living in a hotel room with my husband and five kids trying to figure out how to a) get enough sleep...still b) what time was the right time to get up and go to the gymette in the hotel and still get a shower, breakfast, kids dressed and downstairs for breakfast AND get to work on time c) when my husband was going to get to the gym so he didn't lose his mind watching the kids all day.  I think I figured it out the second week we were there.  Unfortunately it was Thursday.  End result?  Ran about 7 miles total the entire two weeks.
Drove straight through Saturday and arrived home 11pm.  Sunday morning got up, got dressed for Mass, took three little boys to Commissary while Andy was a the gym.  Went to Mass at 1115 in the CLASSROOM on post...never going there again.  Took a TWO HOUR nap.  Heaven.  Went running.  Ran 3 miles at a fairly good clip until the last .5 and then felt like I might make it home...sometime.  Knees were aching.
Monday morning knees were REALLY aching.  Rode my bike instead.  Felt good.  Realized I had on my ultra cool red running hat.  No helmet.  Oops.  Detoured to take back roads and thus shortened my ride considerably.  Good for not seeing an MP, bad for training.
Tuesday morning Andy late getting back from gym.  Supposed to run four miles.  Due to time limits ran three and felt like it was a good thing because four seemed WAAAAY too long.
At this rate I might make it to mile five at the 75 min mark.  Might.  I keep reminding myself that it will only take me two weeks to get back to where I was before and eight miles will feel good instead of insurmountable.  I keep reminding myself that there are other people who need me to offer up this un-fun running; Melinda in Alaska with arsenic water and winter fast approaching, Andrea with Randy in Boston for another surgery, my husband's NCO whose father was just diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer that has spread to his brain, my former neighbor whose cancer comes and goes and whose husband of 62 years is not in good health.
Some how my 7x800 tomorrow sounds pretty darn good.

not quite 3 miles

Felt great.

Feeling old

'Cause, you know, when I was younger and I went to the doctor, my issues couldn't be taken care of in the aisles near the Walgreen's pharmacy; I had to actually go to the pharmacy.

X-ray says no stress fracture.  Feeling around and moving my ankle says whatever it is, probably shin splints, are getting better.   But I'm supposed to take it easy.  Don't get all crazy.  Take a lot of motrin and wear Ace bandages.  Pretend I'm starting training and see where it takes me.

OK, well, it's taking me to VA in about 3 weeks come hell or high water...but I promise I will move wisely and slow.  Like a 100 year old tortoise.  Because I'm soooo old.  Waaaaaah!

6 miles--The good, bad, and ugly

I ran it alone on a sandy trail that winds around a tree-lined lake near our house. It's a well shaded 2 mile loop, so the setting sun was mostly off of me, making for a comfortable run.

Unfortunately, if the sun shone straight in my face or straight on my back, my energy plummeted to zero, and I felt like walking was too hot and too fast. I only fought the sun in a few places, but it was hard to regain momentum after the forced walks.

At the end of my run I felt content and relieved. 6 miles, a first in 9 years! There were moments I might have enjoyed more, but I finished it in a respectable time. Post-run stretching to the soft splash of water going down the spillway and sunlight playing across the pebbles relaxed me before I drove home.

Stiffness, dehydration, chills, exhaustion, ice, motrin, PAIN, and chigger bites are the legacy of that run. This morning's 3 miles were done with gritted teeth and promises to myself that I will stretch every day and ice 3x a day while I'm training. I'm pounding water like it's out of fashion, and I taught from the couch with my right leg up on a chair. Is this why the current chapter of the Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer is about dealing with injuries?

However, I remain upbeat and even feel excited to check out the extended chigger filled trail for next Sat's 7 miler. :)

A new invention!

On my .8 treadmill, I have to run almost 8 laps to get my six miles in this week. Even when I only go 3, I have a tendency to lose count. But then I came up with a brilliant plan.

All I needed to do was to put rubberbands on one arm, and as I finished a lap, I could move it to the other arm. But it gets better because then I thought, what if the rubberbands were shaped on the theme of inspirational running shapes? And colored! A blue running shoe. The Nike swoosh in red. A hat with a zipper, a water bottle, and this...

Guess what I'm going to call them? LAP BANDS! Don't you wish you had thought of them?

Relaxing vacation

I was on vacation, and I really didn't want to run. I forced myself out of bed, got dressed and went out into the pitch black morning. Sunrise was an hour away, and it was too dark yet to run on the beach.

64 steps down to the road from our 3rd floor room. Run on the sparsely lit roadway for 20 minutes up and 20 minutes back. Almost went off the road twice. Saw a cat, assumed it was a bobcat and that helped propel my heartbeat to the top end of the target zone.

Stopped, blessed relief. Walked to the back of the building, climbed the stepped path past the pool and then down the hill. Crossed the fairway of some hole on one of the golf courses. Up the stairs, over the dunes to the soft sand and then the water's edge. Stopped, turned, then slowly started out again with the pinkening sky to my right. My muscles protested, already beginning to relax from the first part of the run.

19 minutes up, 19 minutes back. Then walking across the soft sand, over the dunes, down the steps, across the fairway, up the path, down the path, 64 steps up. Chug 3 ice cold glasses of water. Sit. Drink coffee. The need to sit temporarily overriding the need to take a shower.

BTW, I never knew what it was to sweat until I ran in the Deep South. Dripping. Disgusting.

Shower, get dressed, pack up the kids, down 64 steps and head to THE ZOO. Walk around for three hours. Not much sitting, not much standing.

Back at the hotel, 64 steps up and take another shower. Babysitter comes. 64 steps down. Walk to dinner. Right. Halfway there, realize that the shower was pointless. Eat. Drink 2 frou-frou martinis. More walking on the beach.

Slow walking. Then 64 steps up.

Is there any wonder that it takes me mere seconds to fall asleep at night?

My feet ache, constantly. I have had a tight muscle in my neck from the base of my head down my right shoulder for weeks. My hips ache, my shins ache, my thighs ache. When I was sick in July and didn't run much for 2 weeks, I stopped feeling sore. It was nice.

As I ponder where to go from here, I have ceased thinking that I'll train for the 15k Double Pump which would take me over the Savannah Bridge three times (6% grade). Oh, no. Running 5k races seems very very appealing.

But at the same time, I look at the training schedule and see 4 or 5 or 6 miles and I think: no big deal. So I know I've come a long way since that day 6 months ago when Christie convinced me that this was a good idea. Back then, 1 mile was a challenge. Bit by bit, this running thing gets easier.

But Friday rest days remain my favorite day of the week.

Keep on the sunny side

1:41 pm--begin 3 mile training run

2:17 pm--finish scorching 3 mile run/walk with multiple water breaks

But you should see my awesome tan!

5 x 800; average time or drop time?

I ran my 5 x 800s this AM.  I went to the track because I am tired of guessing if I am really running 800 or not.  My goal was to keep my two laps at about the same time all five sets.  Didn't work.  I think a one minute variation for a .5 mile run is a little erratic.  At some point I thought I should concentrate on dropping time each set.  That didn't work either.  So I wound up just saying the hell with it, I am just glad I am out here running and 2.5 miles doesn't seem so far to my body or mind at this point!

4 miles later

I checked out the race route today. I've run from Arlington across the Potomac, down Little River Turnpike (I think) past the Kennedy Center and ending up behind Lincoln where I got lost the first time I drove to the zoo. Cool. But somehow that seems a lot farther than the 5 laps around my block this morning. Christie is waving at the Hirshhorn, and Michelle is viewing the homestretch going downhill and almost on her way back across the Potomac. Very cool.

Intriguing race map. Mile markers. Start. Finish. (at the Pentagon...really? Why didn't you warn me we are running on the Road to Hell? It sure has been paved with good intentions, by the way.) Ummmm, shopping marker. Ok. Shopping is good. Did I happen to miss the potty markers? I mean, I am the mother of 7 kids. No one is expecting me to run 10 miles without a pitstop right?

7 MILES!!

Ran 7 miles!  The whole thing!  Amazing what a 20 degree drop in temps can do for the body and soul.

Coffee is ready and we are not.  Going to get the family ready for a day at the battlefield.

Happy Labor Day!!

7 miles and Gettysburg

I am planning to run 7 miles in the morning.  There is only one big hill to go UP and it's at the end of the run (maybe a walk at that point).
Then we are going to jump in the car and go to Gettysburg.  Spend the night in York and then head to Lancaster and come home.
Then a one hour bike ride.
Sometimes I wonder why I decided that this was a good idea.  Then I think, "The heck with that, why do I keep doing it?"
Because if I have to sit in a car for hours and hours with small children I need all the feel good hormones and stress relief I can.  And I am fresh out of street drugs.

CHARM

Joseph is standing behind me reading the heading. "CHARM school??"
Catholic
Homeschool
Army
Running
Moms
His mother explains the acronym.
"My gosh!  What is the world coming to?", he replies.
Exactly.